Phone Etiquette 101: Please Hold These 10 Tips in Mind | Business News Daily

July 31, 2020July 30, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Customer service over the phone matters a great deal to customer satisfaction and your brand’s professionalism.

Customer service requires etiquette that is often unspoken but always expected by your customers.

Outsourcing management of your phone lines to a call center could free up internal resources and boost the quality of your customer service.

This article is for small business owners who want to improve their customer service over the phone and are considering outsourcing to a call center or answering service.

Active Listening vs Passive Listening: Is One Better Than the Other?

July 31, 2020July 30, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Seems like we are inundated with information every day. I don’t know about you but sometimes, I find it difficult to unplug and not feel like I need to be in front of a screen or talking to someone.

It sure feels like we are digesting information and communicating with others in one form or another all the time. With so much information coming at us from all angles, it’s easy to become distracted and not give important items the attention they deserve. It’s very easy to default to passive listening pretty much all the time.

3 ways to become a more coachable employee | Fast Company

July 30, 2020July 27, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Effective leaders are more like coaches than managers. Instead of leading an employee toward a preset answer that meets their own objectives, coaches support the person on a path toward career development and, ultimately, greater job satisfaction.

Coaches help their teams grow on a professional level, but being a coachable employee is a vital part of the equation, says behavioral scientist and master certified coach Marcia Reynolds, author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem: A Guide to Using Reflective Inquiry.

Deloitte BrandVoice: Tracking The Recovery: What Manufacturers Can Learn From One Another | Forbes

July 29, 2020July 27, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The recovery from COVID-19 in manufacturing will not be one uniform push. Rather, just as the virus worked its way across the globe, the recovery will be uneven as disparate regions and sectors move toward the next normal.

This won’t make things easy for manufacturers. But the one advantage of a staggered recovery is that it allows you to draw on the insights of regions and sectors that are ahead of you in the cycle. And based on several podcasts I recently recorded with colleagues who advise on manufacturing across the globe, everyone seems to be facing the same key challenges.

10 Simple Client Appreciation Tips to Keep Your Business Growing | AllBusiness.com

July 28, 2020July 26, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Client appreciation improves your client relationships and facilitates retention—and it doesn’t cost much to execute.

When customers feel appreciated, they’re much more likely to stick around, and they’re more likely to recommend you to a friend or colleague. If you apply a customer appreciation strategy consistently, you can greatly improve both client retention and acquisition, and sustain business growth indefinitely.

Of course, client appreciation seems like a very simple concept, but to execute it effectively you’ll need to consider your strategy carefully.

A Guide to Non-Disclosure Agreements | AllBusiness.com

July 28, 2020July 26, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In business, there are numerous instances in which you may want to share confidential information with another party. But the key to doing so safely is making sure that the other party is bound to respect the confidential information you provide them and not use it to your detriment.

One common way to protect the secrecy of confidential information given to another party is through the use of a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which is sometimes also referred to as a “Confidentiality Agreement” or “NDA.”

In this article, I will explain when it makes sense to have a Non-Disclosure Agreement as well as the key terms that agreement can include.

Business Loan Terminology You Need to Know | Small Business Trends

July 27, 2020July 26, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Business loan terminology can be confusing. Most small business owners would rather grow their companies than talk about loan interest and finance charges. That said, if you approach a lender without knowing loan terminology you could be — well — borrowing trouble.

Fortunately, we’ve created this glossary of loan definitions that a small business borrower must know in order to make informed choices. Knowing these terms will help you understand small business funding options and the obligations that come with them.

Summer Check-in on Business Licenses and Permits – Make Sure You’re Operating Legally | Small Business Trends

July 27, 2020July 26, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

How will you remember the Summer of 2020? It’s probably been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for most business owners trying to ride out the pandemic and still keep their businesses healthy, profitable and in compliance with old and new regulations.

Business Licenses and Permits Requirements

One area you may have fallen behind in is making sure the business licenses and permits you need to legally operate your business are still current. Here’s some information to help get you back on track.

Pandemic requirements

Although there may not be specific permits and/or licenses your small business needs to reopen during the pandemic, your city or state will have guidelines you need to follow. New York City, which just began “Phase Four of Restart NYC” requires businesses in specific industries to read, understand and sign off on state-issued guidelines for that industry. Businesses not specifically named in Phases One-Three are required to follow executive orders supplied by the Governor and Mayor. In another example, Philadelphia is requiring each construction site to have a Pandemic Safety Officer with COVID-19 training present to keep workers safe.

How to Calculate Employee Turnover | business.com

July 24, 2020July 23, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Want to track your employee retention? Learn how to calculate your company’s staff turnover rate.

You can calculate your employee turnover rate by looking at the average number of workers who exit your business during a specific time period and are replaced by new staff.

Your business should monitor and track its employee turnover to gauge how appealing your company is to employees. It can also help you improve areas that may be causing workers to leave your company.

Your employee turnover rate helps you evaluate your risk of an employee leaving and recognize opportunities for retention when you hire new employees.

What Separates Great Companies From Average Ones? Arming Your Workers With Data | Inc.com

July 23, 2020July 22, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A new Harvard Business Review report shows the power of putting data in the hands of front-line workers, but it also reveals that it takes a lot more than just technology and tools to succeed.

According to the report, which was commissioned by ThoughtSpot and based on responses from 464 business executives, employees must be trained on how to act on insights when they have them and be given autonomy to make decisions in the moment.

For companies that are arming their workers with data today, 32 percent see a “significant increase” in product or service quality, while 28 percent see an increase in productivity or efficiency, according to the report.